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Origin and history

The Renaissance Gate of the Academy, located in Puylaurens in the Tarn, is an architectural element of the 19th century. It comes from the former hotel of Solignac, seat of the Protestant Academy transferred from Montauban in 1659 after religious tensions. This monument bears witness to the importance of Puylaurens as a Protestant intellectual home in the 17th and 18th centuries, before its abolition in 1685, shortly before the revocation of the edict of Nantes.

The Academy of Montauban, founded in 1598 as a Protestant university, was first installed in private houses before occupying the college of Navarre. In 1600 it became a complete institution with chairs of theology, philosophy, Greek and Hebrew. After violent conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in 1659, including a riot resulting in death and destruction, the Academy was forced to leave Montauban for Puylaurens by royal arrest.

In Puylaurens, the Academy enjoyed a period of relative prosperity despite limited resources. She attracted students through the ban on Protestants studying in Catholic colleges. His teachers include figures such as Jean Gominarc, Antoine Pérès (specialist in Hebrew), and Théophile Arbussy. The institution trained famous students such as Pierre Bayle or Jacques Abbadie. However, the poverty of the Reformed Churches limited its development, including by temporarily abolishing Greek teaching.

The end of the Academy occurred in 1685, seven months before the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by decision of the King's Council. This monument, now protected, recalls the Protestant heritage in Occitanie and the religious struggles that marked the region. The gate, which is located in the garden of the temple of Puylaurens, has been listed as historical monuments since 7 July 2015.

Puylaurens, a strategic Huguenote city between Toulouse and Castres, played a key role during the Wars of Religion. His academy was the last Protestant educational bastion in France before its definitive closure. The original building, the Hotel de Solignac, illustrates the local architecture and the turbulent history of the Reformed in Languedoc.

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